The Doubt Machine: Inside The Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science​

Narrated by esteemed actor Emma
Thompson, ​the documentary "The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers'
War on Climate Science" reveals how the Koch Brothers have used their
vast wealth to ensure the American political system takes no action on
climate change​,​ ​and are​ ​attempting​ to buy the 2016 Congressional
elections

2014 and 2015 each set the record
for hottest calendar year since scientists began measuring surface
temperatures over 150 years ago, and 2016 is shaping up to be even
warmer. This will be the first time that we've seen three consecutive
years with record-breaking temperatures.

A temperature increase of two
degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels
will now be reached much sooner than earlier predicted according to a
report by seven leading climate scientists.

“The 1.5°C target could be reached
by the early 2030’s and the 2°C target by 2050” says the report that
included Sir Robert Watson, former Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC). The scientists say that even if all the
pledges made by the signatory countries to the Paris agreement are fully
implemented, climate will pass this dangerous mark in 34 years.

This is a threshold that most
scientists have warned cannot be crossed without dire consequences,
including a rise in sea levels of several feet that would flood many
coastal cities in the U.S., longer droughts, more intense heat waves
that cause a major disruption in the world's food supply, and large
migrations of people from countries of the global south.

It is also a point where it becomes
far more difficult to reverse the warming trend. Some scientists suggest
temperatures by the end of the century could rise as much as 4-6°C
above pre-industrial levels.

The report titled The Truth About Climate Change
says, "Much of the public believes that climate change is only going to
happen by the end of the century," and that this is a misunderstanding
of the urgency. Unless there is a dramatic change in current public
policy, most people alive today will live to see the 2°C threshold
crossed.

The report continues: "Climate
change is happening now, and much faster than anticipated." Climate
change related floods, droughts, more intense storms, heat waves, and
wildfires have already had devastating effects on livelihoods,
infrastructure, and lives."

If the 2°C threshold is to be
avoided, the report calls for far more aggressive targets than those set
by the Paris Agreement and for that action to begin immediately. The
report says, "To meet the 2°C target, global CO2 emissions should be net
zero by 2060-2075."

The threat is catastrophic,
the science overwhelming. So why aren't solutions to the climate change
crisis at the top of the political agenda?

Why don't we see millions of people
in the streets demanding decisive action? Why isn't this a major issue
in the election debates? Why are politicians who deny the existence of
human-caused climate change even elected to office?

The lack of American public
engagement in the climate crisis is a global concern. If U.S. policy
doesn't change, human life as we know it and thousands of other species
will not survive.

According to a Yale survey, 70% of
Americans now believe global warming is real. If so, why isn't there
more political pressure to face up to the crisis?

Dig further into the numbers and the state of public opinion is more fully revealed.

- Of
those who believe climate change is real, only half (53%) think that
global warming is mostly human caused. One in three (34%) believe it is
due mostly to natural changes in the environment.

- Only
about one in ten Americans understand that nearly all climate scientists
(more than 90%) are convinced that human-caused global warming is
happening.

- Over half of Americans (58%) say they are at least "somewhat worried" about global warming, but only 16% say they are "very worried."

Why are only 16% of people surveyed very worried about what 90% of scientists think is a catastrophic threat?

The Koch Brothers' war on science
certainly plays a major role in promoting doubt about the overwhelming
scientific evidence of human-caused climate change. They spend millions
financing witch hunts against climate scientists and funding "research"
designed to confuse public opinion.

The Kochs and other billionaires
with a vested interest pour hundreds of millions into the coffers of
politicians willing to obstruct legislation that would regulate fossil
fuel and promote a green sustainable economy.

Perhaps as responsible for the gap
between public opinion and scientific evidence is corporate television
news, "The gatekeeper of public consciousness."

Firstly, they ignore the crisis. The report cited above was not the lead story on television newscasts. We can't find evidence it was carried by any U.S. television news outlet at all.

According to a Media Matters report,
the four major corporate TV networks aired a total 146 minutes of
climate change coverage in 2015. ABC only aired 13 minutes of coverage
and Fox's coverage consisted mostly of "criticism of efforts to address
climate change."

The report continues:

CNN
aired almost five times as much oil industry advertising as climate
change-related coverage in the one-week periods following the
announcements that 2015 was the hottest year on record and February 2016
was the most abnormally hot month on record.

Only 16% of Americans are "very worried" about global warming because corporate TV news doesn't want us to worry about it.

Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, says:

While
US foreign policy is mostly responsible for the growth of militant
terrorist groups, the threat of a nuclear terrorist attack is
existential. Think about what we'll do when 500,000 people are killed in
New York City. We will declare martial law nationwide. We will be the
most draconian tyranny you've ever seen on the face of this earth. But
still I consider climate change a greater danger because it is a threat to the very survival of the human race.

What are the reasons for corporate
TV's lack of interest in the major news story of the century?The obvious
answers are pressure from certain advertisers, the interests of
corporate ownership, and the political intrigues of the fossil fuel
industry.

But I think it goes even deeper.

In 2009, two years after the Fourth
IPCC Assessment Report said, "Warming of the climate system is
unequivocal," TV coverage of climate change was at its height - a
whopping 205 minutes for the entire year. Even former Republican Speaker
of the House Newt Gingrich appeared in an ad with Democratic Speaker of
the House Nancy Pelosi calling for action on climate warming.

Then something happened.

A large section of the elites looked
at what it would really take to meet the target scientists said was
necessary to mitigate and stop the terrible consequences of climate
change. They said, "No way."

The transformation required to
drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels and move to a green economy
would change who has power and how business is done. There is no way to
achieve the necessary reduction in carbon emissions without serious
government regulation, a strengthening of the public sector, and massive
public investment. All this requires a reduction in the political power
of the fossil fuel industry and the financial elites associated with
it.

Gingrich renounced the Pelosi ad in 2011.

The majority of the billionaires who
control the commanding heights of the economy and politics are more
interested in short-term profits and immediate personal gratification
than some "long-term" threat. They either fight against all climate
change legislative action or support relatively weak measures to reduce
carbon emissions - better than nothing, but far from what scientists say is required.

For most people of wealth it comes down to a simple calculation: My family and I will be ok.
As the IPCC puts it: "Risks are unevenly distributed and are generally
greater for disadvantaged people and communities in countries at all
levels of development."

People who understand the scale of the systemic risk are marginalized by corporate media and thus are marginalized in politics.

A critical task in engaging large
numbers of ordinary people in fighting and voting for a rational climate
change policy is breaking the corporate monopoly on daily video news.
We must create an independent, uncompromising source of global climate
change news and investigative reports.

The very first story ever produced
by TRNN in 2007 was an interview series with George Monbiot on the
urgent climate change threat. We produced a series titled "Who Cares
About Bangladesh" soon afterwards.

We reported directly from the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris.

We did in-depth interviews with
climatologists like Dr. Alan Robock and Dr. Michael Mann who both worked
on the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Economist Robert Pollin has appeared in numerous interviews with specific proposals for a transition to a green economy.

We recently interviewed the esteemed actor Emma Thompson while she was onboard a Greenpeace vessel in the Arctic.

We've reported on environmental activism from all over the world.

We will soon be releasing the
documentary "The Doubt Machine: The Koch Brothers War on Climate
Science" narrated by Emma Thompson.

With our limited resources we have
produced more than 535 reports on climate change since the fall of 2007
when we started our service. In 2015, we produced 1029 minutes of
programming about climate change. That's more than seven times of all
the major networks combined.

We have produced more than 10,000
reports and interviews overall since we began our daily production. We
also cover international and national news and now have a bureau in
Baltimore reporting on the problems and solutions to the crisis of urban
America. Millions of people have watched. We average 1.5 million views
per month.

While we have worked hard to keep a
focus on climate change, what we have accomplished is far from enough.
We need a Climate Bureau with sufficient resources to become a major
daily video climate news service for online and TV.

The power of daily video news is
what shapes most people's world view and the field is dominated by news
organizations that will not seriously address the problem or are in
fact, part of the "doubt machine."

It is clear that a radical change in
the way the world produces and uses energy is required. Currently,
about 82% of energy produced in the world is obtained by burning fossil
fuels. How we produce energy without burning fossil fuels will be
critically important as the world population is expected to grow by 40%
to 10 billion by 2050.

The Real News appreciates
the urgency and crying need for effective solutions. That's why we are
creating a Global Climate Change Bureau (GCCB).

The Global Climate Change Bureau will:

- Investigate and report on the urgency of climate change as reported by peer reviewed scientists

- Debate what are real solutions and what's just financialization (green-washing)

- Question the efficacy of cap and trade, carbon taxes, or other market-based reforms

- Consider what regulations are required and what they should look like

-
Investigate controversial but likely necessary technologies to reduce
CO2 including carbon capture and storage (CCS), bioenergy combined with
CCS, and geo-engineering of various types

-
Analyze the efficacy of massive reforestation and conversion of land
into forests, and other large-scale utilization of negative emission
technologies

- Research model public policy around the world including local community initiatives that can be brought to scale

- Examine plans for transitioning to a green and sustainable economy

- Work
with climate news and scientific organizations to aggregate, and
popularize through video, the best climate change reporting around the
world

To deliver this work we will:

- Develop a daily ten minute headline news show

-
Produce 7-10 minute video reports daily covering scientific evidence of
the current consequences and long term threat of climate change

- Produce a daily discussion/debate show covering urgency and solutions

- Publish one investigative video report a day about effective solutions

- Create local bureaus and a global network of freelance content producers

- Aggregate the best reporting in video and print about climate change

-
Provide easy access to our content to other websites, broadcasters and
the public, thus creating a central hub for information about climate
change and environmental issues

- Have its own dedicated page within the TRNN website and a dedicated Facebook page

-
Utilize a marketing and social media team that will make sure the
content is widely distributed on the web, mobile and on TV, waged with
all the intensity and skills of a political campaign

The Bureau will be based at our
studios in Baltimore and we plan to establish climate news offices early
on in Los Angeles, Toronto, London, and Johannesburg. We have a
production partner now in New Delhi and are developing relationships in
Brazil. We plan to build a network of correspondents in other key
locations around the world.

In the U.S. we are working on
capturing key local news markets. These are the "weak links" in the
corporate media chain. Starting in Baltimore, we will build a national
audience that can compete with corporate media. Climate news must be
integrated into a news culture that also addresses people's immediate
concerns for a better life.

We must breakthrough to a
mass audience by linking the fight to save the planet with solutions to
the day-to-day economic struggles of people to survive. People need to
understand that the issue of a green and sustainable economy is
inseparable from a transition to a more equitable and just society. With your support we will make the Global Climate Change Bureau a reality.